Latest News

21st November 2009

Snitch was awarded her Flyball Dog Intermediate certificate (FDI) for gaining 1000 points. The points were finally gained at Norfolk Heritage Park  on 6th September 2009. Thanks to Whiterose teams for allowing us to run with them.

11th August 2009

Another sad day at Druidale as Riot has gone to The Bridge to join his Sister Kaos, half-sister Free and mother Sky. Riot went down very rapidly and it just seemed that he wanted to join Free. I hadn't realised how close the two of them were.

1st August 2009

Leon attended another herding day, this time with a different instructor. He did do well, but wasn't as focussed as last time and in some instances was worried by the sheep. Time for a re-think on this one.

18th July 2009

Spud (and I) gets presented with her Flyball Dog Intermediate certificate (FDI) for gaining 1000 points. The points were finally gained at Eggborough on 23rd May 2009. Thanks to Whiterose teams for allowing us to run with them.

1st July 2009

Faith passes her Gundog Club Grade 2 Hunting retriever test gaining a Merit. That elusive distinction was missed by just one point! Considering that it was so hot, Faith worked very well and I was very pleased with her. Her hunting has improved but still needs more work, but she is growing in confidence.

13th & 14th June 2009

Leon goes herding! We attended a herding weekend, organised by the herding bearded collie group, and Leon had an absolute ball. It was very interesting to see his herding instincts awaken. Some photos appear on Leon's page, but a short report covering the weekend can be found here

8th June 2009

A very sad day here at Druidale as Free has gone to The Bridge. She was just 7 weeks shy of her 13th birthday. Things don't seem the same here now that my special girl has gone.

25th April 2009

Faith passes her Gundog Club Grade One Hunting Retriever Test gaining a Merit. We also had a go at the Grade Two test and only missed out on achieving this by 2 marks. We'll have another go at Grade Two in June.

Overall I was very pleased with Faith, she was happy and enthusiastic to work, she has a rock solid stay, excellent stop to whistle, her heelwork had improved and she fetched the dummies to hand. More work is still needed on improving her hunting and on getting her to 'mark' where the dummy is as I ended up having to direct her onto the dummies today which cost us marks for extra cues.

9th April 2009

Site completely redesigned to make it easier to navigate and faster to load. A new training section has been added which will continue to expand over time.

Current articles include ones on Loose lead walking techniques, Recall training techniques, Introduction to clicker training, 300 Peck approach to building duration and one on Premack.

Articles on Counterconditioning and desensitisation will be added in the next few days.

Another new section are the pages on my Spanish Water Dogs; a versatile breed that will turn its paw to anything. Faith and Leon are now taking me into the world of gundog training and Faith is due to take her Grade One and Two Hunting Retriever Tests (via the Gundog Club) at the end of April. Check back for updates.

Leon came to me with issues; he disliked being touched by people and would snap with little warning, he also resource guarded his food and chews. His progress so far can be followed here. He is booked on a sheepherding clinic is June 2009. Check back to see how he got on.

Let me know if there are any training articles that you'd like to see on the site.

Thanks for visiting and please come back soon